Launch of F1 TV marred by 'technical difficulties'

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany steers his car during the qualifying session for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, Spain, Saturday, May 12, 2018. The Spanish Formula One Grand Prix will take place on Sunday.Manu Fernandez / AP

BARCELONA, Spain — Formula One’s subscription television service got off to a slow start as some viewers were unable to watch the live broadcasts of practice and qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday.

“We’re sorry to say that we have experienced a few technical difficulties with F1 TV’s live broadcast,” F1 said.

It said it was “aware that this has impacted customers with an F1 TV Pro subscription and while we are working hard to fix these issues, we wanted to let those impacted subscribers know that we will contact them by email shortly to address this with a partial refund.”

F1 said the “issues” affected customers only during live playback but all sessions from this weekend’s Spanish GP were available on demand, including all onboard cameras and team radio.

It didn’t say how many subscribers were affected.

F1 said the streaming platform marks F1’s “biggest investment in its digital transformation to date.”

The service is expected to give fans access to live feeds with access to onboard cameras for all 20 drivers, as well as to broadcasts of news conferences and other interviews.

Pricing and accessibility vary according to market, with the yearly service costing $99 (83 euros) in the United States.